NOFX have had a long storied career, one that has brought them from young, brash generic hardcore punks in the early ’80s LA scene to perhaps the most influential (along with Bad Religion) band in skate-punk. They’ve also release a slew of albums during the 20-plus year run (about twelve in all if you count the two live albums and their collection on Mystic) and not all of them have been up to par, or act as a clear indicator of just what makes NOFX so great. So, for anyone new to the band, anyone overwhelmed by the size of their catalog, or anyone who just doesn’t have the time to slop through the less-than-worth it tracks, here are the top five NOFX albums in chronological order.
Ribbed (1990)
Okay, so maybe lead guitarist El Hefe wasn’t on board, but Ribbed introduces the contemporary NOFX sound. Vocalist/ bassist Fat Mike once claimed he didn’t even know what a melody was until Bad Religion front-man Greg Graffin told him, and well Mike seems to learn quick on Ribbed. Opener “Green Corn” could pretty much fit on any NOFX album thanks to the galloping drum beat, snotty vocal approach, sarcastic lyrics and catchy melodies. Sure the guitar solo is a bit too “metal” but that kink wouldn’t get worked for another few years. What’s more important is that the band had finally shed the scrappy, Germs inspired cacophony they were so intent on before. They now had melody, a fact that is on full bizarre display on “Moron Brothers,” a song with a barbershop quartet breakdown. So, yeah there are duds on this album, but this is pretty much the blueprint for the ’90s skate-punk explosion that saw bands like Ten Foot Pole, Pennywise, Lagwagon, and No Use For a Name coming to fruition.
White Trash, Two Heebs and a Bean (1992)
This was the band’s first full-length to feature new lead guitarist El Hefe (he had appeared on The Longest Line EP before this album) and it farther solidified the NOFX sound. The goofy songs and ska songs were still present including an extremely tongue-in-cheek cover of straight-edge hardcore founding fathers Minor Threat’s “Straight Edge.” Now however the band had the pleasure of including El Hefe’s trumpet skills and backing vocals. Songs like “Bob” and “Liza and Louise” are now classic NOFX tracks that you can still hear the band rocking live while others like “Soul Doubt” and “Stickin in my Eye” showed the band cleaning up their hyper-speed formula to produce even catchier little nuggets of unrestrained punk rock.
Punk in Drublic (1994)
Often regarded as NOFX’s finest moment, Punk in Drublic saw the band finally shedding their last pieces of baggage. The metal-tinged moments were gone, the needless noodling was replaced with smart and precise riffing, and even the “joke” songs were now worth repeated listens. Fat Mike also upped his melody writing and lyrical scope, which was either a surprising or non-difficult move depending on how you look at it. Still songs like “Linoleum,” “Dig,” “Don’t Call Me White,” and “Dying Degree” saw NOFX at the top of their songwriting game. These were the songs that kids forming punk bands at the time were all trying to emulate, and well the songs that some still are trying to emulate today. Catchy, fast, energetic, smart, and sometimes funny, sometimes poignant, Punk in Drublic still serves as a testament to how good a punk album truly can be.
So Long and Thanks for all the Shoes (1997)
Take all the fantastic details about Punk in Drublic and repeat. Okay, that may be too simple of an explanation. The fantastic thing about So Long is that it marked NOFX’s first time that they branched out from their patented formula to write songs that weren’t jokes or random genre experiments. 180 Degrees” showed that the band could pen a ska song that wasn’t ridiculous sounding while “All His Suits are Torn” was a mid-tempo rock song with surprising nuance, “Monosyllabic Girl” was a pure pop rush and “Falling in Love” was a seriously toned experiment that worked. Sure, tracks like “It’s My Job to Keep Punk Rock Elite” and “Kids if the K-Hole” were classic NOFX, but even they were delivered with an amazing amount of energy and pop-smarts.
The Decline (1999)
Okay, so it’s not an album, but merely an EP with one 18 minute long song. That’s right, a punk band wrote an 18 minute long song, and it’s good, damn good. The Decline was a sign that NOFX could step outside of the parameters everyone else had built for them and still craft some amazing music. And yes, NOFX had political songs over the entire course of their career, but The Decline was an anthem, one complete with a horn-blaring, fist-pumping chanted close. So many ideas were attacked vocally over the 18 minutes while the band musically covered everything from unrelenting skate-punk, to reggae, subdued rock, pounding hardcore, and of course that brilliant transcendent closing.
NOFX may have released a number of albums since the turn of the century, and while none of them have been disappointing, none of them have had the same power, creativity, or staying power of these five. These are the 5 definitive NOFX albums.
